All of us know of the burdens, difficulty and painstaking patience required when performing a painting project. Depending on the particular project, there are a variety of tasks to perform, from removing old paint, cleaning the surface, prepping the surface, mixing the paint, applying the paint and the like. However, perhaps the most dreaded of all of these tasks is the cleanup. And perhaps the most problematic items to clean are the brush and roller itself. No matter how much soaking, scrubbing, cleaning and the like that occurs, a small amount of paint always remains forever trapped in the bristles or the paint roller cover. Just when one is expecting a final clear rinse, colored paint is still coming out. Thus, repeated time must be spent washing and subsequently re-rinsing the item until one gives up and is satisfied with “clean enough”. Of course, all of this washing and rinsing time means excessive usage of water, which is a limited natural resource. If the brush or roller cover should be simply discarded, it ends up in a landfill, where it may pose a possible hazardous waste scenario. Accordingly, there is a need for a means by which brushes and paint roller covers can be easily and completely cleaned after use. The development of the apparatus fulfills this need.